The Guardian
by Sabaku Ookami
Summary: Kushina, Minato and his genin squad make their way to Uzu no Kuni for a mission from the Daimyo to check the damage and see if there would be any possibility to rebuild the city of Uzushio on the island. Unfortunately, they run into a problem. (A previous one-shot moved into a full-story)


A/N: This is a full-story of the one-shot I did... a couple months ago. Since I'm bored enough and even writing several chapters for other stories can't seem to contain my imagination... I'll make a few people happy and create this.

Now admittedly, this won't have my complete attention since it's more of a side-project than a story I want to concentrate on. So I'll update it whenever I can, but don't expect updates to come quickly.

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Minato, his girlfriend and squad walked down a street amongst the ruins of Uzushiogakure and frowned, "It's quiet... it's kind of unsettling," he said not liking the city very much. _'What's with this odd sense of dread coming over me,'_ he thought as he looked into one of the destroyed buildings.

"Sensei!" shouted Rin loudly. Minato quickly ran over to her and found dozens of skeletons and decomposing bodies lying on the ground

"Holy shit..." muttered Minato staring at the bones and bodies, "I guess this is it. Uzushiogakure's final battle." His eyes widened as he felt a pulse of chakra as did Kushina and his squad as they were all looking around.

"I can't see anything," stated Kakashi as they looked around for the source of the chakra. The next thing Minato heard was Kushina screaming then a large explosion, most likely from an explosive tag. From the raised dust they could all see a pair of blood red eyes glowing through the dust.

"Run!" ordered Minato before he grabbed Rin and Kakashi while Kushina grabbed Obito and they went straight for the nearest area that was _out_ of the city. Whatever it was that decided to come after them had the advantage, it knew the layout of the ruins far better than his girlfriend or his squad and it did not seem keen on talking.

Minato looked behind him and his heart almost jumped into his throat, the person who was in the dust was after them and it was _gaining_ on them. He cringed as he felt something sharp digging into his back, he took a quick look as saw a couple of kunai, "Damn it," he growled as getting away wasn't going to be as easy as he thought it would have been since their attacker was faster than them and apparently had weapons to attack with. Though he should have expected the last one.

Minato saw the half-destroyed walls only a few hundred yards away, it wouldn't be very long until they were out of the city and on somewhat equal ground to the person attacking them. "Kushina get rea-" he cut himself off as he looked over and saw his girlfriend fall to the ground as several kunai had dug into her left leg and their assailant had caught up to her.

Kushina used the strength she had left and threw Obito as far as she could to give the boy time to get away while she occupied the bastard who was standing above her pinning her to the ground with a foot.

"Hold on Kushina!" shouted Minato as he threw a trio of kunai with explosive tags on them at the person pinning her down, they hit and exploded, blasting the person back away from Kushina while keeping her unharmed. _'And people think that small explosive tags are bad'_ he thought happily as he rushed over to Kushina and picked her up as he had let Rin and Kakashi on their own and were safe outside the wall by now.

"Oh shit," he muttered seeing as their assailant was standing a few feet away looking perfectly fine despite taking three explosions to his body. "Time to go," he added before he channeled chakra into his legs and ran for woods outside the city.

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"Wow, you guys are still alive," said the Daimyo's liaison who came with them to get the details of the mission. It also seemed that the man knew about their attacker being in the city, "You're the first in dozens of shinobi we've sent into the city to make it out," he added eying them closely.

"Thank you for the compliment," replied Minato sarcastically, "But telling us there was someone in there that was going to _kill_ us would have been nice. By the way, _who_ was that?" he asked wanting details from the man _now_ or he was ending the mission and returning to Konoha, he wouldn't get his girlfriend or squad killed just because the mission was from the Daimyo.

The man shrugged and said, "He's known as the Guardian. He stands watch over this dead city, even now, a decade since it fell. His mission is to attack and destroy any and all who penetrate the walls of this once great city. Which now is a city of death, and dust and lost souls. He is their guardian."

"So is he a person, some kind of construction able to move because of seals or is a humanoid summon?" questioned Minato trying to come to some idea of _what_ they would be facing.

"No idea. However... in the last five years of studying the Guardian. I have learned a few things. All you have to do is take one look at the Guardian. Judging by his appearance, at least to myself who wasn't running for his life. He's battered by the elements and even able to endure blasts from shinobi explosive notes. He has survived the entire decade on his own, his clothes are burned, worn and likely stuck to his body and the armor he wears is damaged from the many battles he's gone through. And all of it without any repairs to his equipment. So he's probably not even fighting you and the others before at a hundred percent and _still_ he shows immense ability and skill at fighting," explained the aide before shrugging, "Your job though, is to get rid of him since you lived past the first encounter. How you do it, I don't care... where did your red haired lady go?" he asked just noticing that the redhead female disappeared some point while he was speaking.

Minato turned around and saw that Kushina was indeed gone then he paled as he heard a loud explosion coming from Uzushio, "Kushina was never one to give up," he said inwardly sighing before heading off to where the sound came from.

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"Hey you!" shouted Kushina staring at the person standing a decent twenty yards from her, she had a bone to pick with whoever this was and she wasn't going to have it end with her running away. "What are you fighting for? There's nothing and no one left here for you to defend," she added, still shouting at him.

"I will protect and sustain," declared the person in front of her in a rough voice, and it was also a male's voice. It didn't look like he was used to talking either, "I will act as Guardian for the Uzumaki... and throughout it all. I will never forget," he added icily as his glowing red eyes narrowed at her, "I will remember the ones who sacrificed themselves... so that the Uzumaki could survive," he finished before he charged her. Kushina didn't have any time to react as she was surprisingly caught off guard by the sudden action, "Answer for your transgressions," muttered the Guardian as he grabbed her arm then everything went black.

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Kushina groaned as she opened her eyes, it felt like someone hit her in the head. She blinked a few times as she looked around and only saw darkness. "This... is new," she muttered to herself. She wasn't in her mindscape, the evident lack of a giant furball was proof of that.

"Enemy within range. Flagship to all, attack the enemy," came an order from a familiar voice, it was only a faint familiarity though, she knew the voice but couldn't place who it belonged to.

"Enemy Fleet opened fire," reported a female voice, it all sounded like it was coming over a radio, but she wasn't wearing one and well she didn't even know _where_ she was.

"Under fire. They're coming from all sides now," shouted another person over the radio as explosions where head in the background. Slowly but surely, the area around her was becoming visible for some reason. Kushina could see buildings, the sea... and two dozen ships standing ground against three different fleets that numbered into hundreds. The small fleet bore the symbol of Uzushiogakure no Sato. One enemy fleet bore the symbol of Kirigakure, another for Iwagakure and the last was... a leaf, the symbol for Konohagakure. Kushina stared at the last symbol for a few seconds before closing her eyes then opening them to still see the symbol.

"Kai!" shouted Kushina as she tried to dispel whatever genjutsu she was in, but it did nothing.

"Crysath to Flagship. Situation is critical," reported another voice, "Evacuate districts Four through Ten," ordered the same voice, most likely to those near him and not over the radio itself. Not even a second later, there was simply screaming before the radio cut off.

Kushina looked around and spotted more ships, not bearing the symbol of the other three, but instead it bore the symbol for Kumogakure... and they had already landed at the harbour and she could see intense fighting and jutsu going off all over the place.

"Admiral. We've lost the Crysath, they're breaking through," reported another soldier, most probably an Uzushio shinobi based on one of the ships out at sea. Kushina looked back at them to see several Uzushio ships already sinking and jutsu being used to kill any survivors. It was... horrible for her to watch happen. It may be a genjutsu but it did not mean she wasn't someone who could just sit and watch a... massacre happen to her homeland.

"Admiral Kuroe to the fleet," stated the admiral on the Flagship, Kushina's eyes widened as she remembered who the voice belonged to. It was her father. "Hold your positions," he ordered firmly to the rest of the ships who would have most likely attempted to split and run if commanded by anyone else.

"Breach in District Seve-" The radio cut off from an explosion while a soldier was sending it in and Kushina just started crying. She... she just couldn't bear to watch it happen, she didn't want to see it. She was forced to watch her former friends and family die in the defense of their home and she knew that it already happened and it only pained her that she couldn't do anything to help.

"Enemy ships are heading to the civilian evacuation ships. Take up positions and see to their defense," ordered Kuroe over the radio. "Protect the civilian ships at all costs and fire at will when the enemy gets within range," he added to his previous order.

It was only a couple minutes until she heard another voice on the radio, "The Flagship has been hit."

"To all, the Flagship has been destroyed. I am assuming command of the fleet," stated Kushina though she had no command over her body and it confused her immensely. Her voice was male as well which scared her a bit.

_'Oh... these have to be the Guardian's memories or something like that and I'm him... I think,'_ thought Kushina trying to make sense of it, _'W-wait a minute then this means that this isn't a genjutsu and... Konoha did have something to do with my home's destruction?! No, no, no. This has to be a genjutsu. It has to be,' _she added mentally not going to accept that her second home, the place that had been Uzushio's ally for two generations back-stabbed them even when Mito had been alive.

"Fall back to the island. See to your wounded and land where ever you can. The wounded have priority and move them ahead of those who aren't. Converge at Uzu no Kuni's main city. We can't beat them on the sea, but we have a chance on land," ordered the Guardian seriously before he and Kushina as a result of _being_ him started walking and seconds later, she lost consciousness.

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A/N: Yes. I'm intentionally messing with her and I suppose all of you as a result. Answers... probably the next chapter as well as the one after next.


End file.
